Today I was in Bremen, with the idea of visiting the market there and generally having a good time. All in all, I managed it, had a wonderful time and saw many things which will remain. The market place was packed with mostly good-natured people out to have fun, some of them dressed up, some just wandering around, looking and enjoying. I saw a man built like a brick outhouse wearing pink tennis shoes; groups of women in frilly dresses; groups of men wearing lederhosen. But there were other things too, not just there but also on the way there.

Traveling in the bus we stopped to pick up passengers and one got in, a young man, who was rude – despite the earliness of the day – and bad-tempered. He objected to having his bus pass checked by the driver, threatened to report him. When he got out some of the women, in their frilly dresses, sang him a song he cannot possibly have missed: we think you’re shit, go home.

And then there were the other people on the road, mainly cyclists. They rode next to one another and blocked all passage; they rode through red lights; crossed the path of cars and the bus without signaling. I saw hardly anyone wearing a helmet – they are not required by law here – but several with a helmet strapped on their bikes. And this image came to mind, something the content managers I mentioned yesterday didn’t catch.

Screenshot Source: Twitter

I wonder what she had planned for that day, wherever it was, her hair all brushed and caught back in a short ponytail. She was young, that much is clear. Somewhere her parents, her family, perhaps a boy- or girlfriend were waiting for her. Would she have survived with a helmet? I don’t know. But this is one of the images which, although it has nothing to do with my day out in Bremen, will remain with me.